HIV Testing And Counselling Among The Youth Of Fanteakwa District Of Ghana: An Application Of The Health Belief Model

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the factors that contribute to the utilization of HIV Testing and Counselling among the youth of Fanteakwa District of Ghana in light of the health belief model. The study involved 424 youths between the ages of 15 - 24 in the Fanteakwa District in the eastern Region of Ghana. The quantitative approach was used in the study using the Health Belief Model. The multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study involving the simple random sampling which was used to select the communities and then the purposive sampling method which was also used to select individual participants. Structured questionnaires made up of 30 items each were administered to the respondents to collect data and processed using STATA 13. The results showed that majority of the respondents (over 80%) had heard about HTC and also knew where to go for HIV test. Again, It was also revealed from the study that as little as 25% had ever taken HIV test at the time of the study with the males being in majority than the females. In addition, more than half of the respondents (57.6%) have been given pre-counselling service before the test and majority of them (67.3%) went back for their test results. It was also found that sex (p = -0.52854), place of residence (p = - 0.67824) of respondents and perceived susceptibility (p = -0.07187) were significantly associated with HTC participation. It was recommended that social media is used as a tool for disseminating information on HTC and also, the development and mass distribution of Self-test kits for HIV for the youth.